Casey calls for delay of medical device tax

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and 16 other Senate Democrats want the medical device tax - included in the 2010 healthcare reform law that they supported - postponed.

The 2.3 percent excise tax that devicemakers must pay on their gross sales goes into effect on Jan. 1. It's one of the new revenues used to offset the cost of the healthcare law. The Internal Revenue Service issued Wednesday its final rules on the tax, which will impact profits on items such as high-tech burn treatments, catheters, back braces and in-home HIV tests.

Casey signed a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this week asking that he support delaying implementation of the tax. Casey supports fully repealing it.

"With this year quickly drawing to a close, the medical device industry has received little guidance about how to comply with the tax—causing significant uncertainty and confusion for businesses," the senators wrote.

The medical device industry is a major employer in the Lehigh Valley. Pennsylvania Republicans, namely U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, have been calling for a repeal of the tax since the bill became law.

In The Morning Call Thursday, reporter Scott Kraus wrote that Olympus in Center Valley, B. Braun, in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, and OraSure, in Bethlehem, are expected to be affected by the new tax.

Read Kraus' full story on the IRS issuing its final rules on the medical device tax here.